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RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

ORIGINAL: Joespeeder

Hey Guys,

I painted the yellow band on the tail and the stars off the bottom using warbird colors RML blue. I like the miss matching of the blues on the bottom and once I get the German crosses on there it will look really good. I'm thinking I'll do the yellow wing tips on the bottom as shown on the paper model. When I look at the Luftwaffe Archives photo of this plane it looks like you can see a surface change on the bottom of the wing tips and it will help with visualizing what the LA-5 is doing in the air for me.

I'm thinking I'll get both flat and satin clear coats from Lowes to highlight the various paint areas. Russian paint will be flat, German paint will be satin or a mix of satin and flat, and the silver exhaust area will be left the ESM texture. I'll paint in the exhaust with an airbrush and then flat over the exhaust.

Here's the progress this far.

Joe

Looks really nice ! Imounted the RCGF 50, looks like Istill will have to cut the cowl. The hardware is all junk, and fit / finish well all of you know already.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

Yesterday I made a maiden flight with my La-7. The weight with the ROTO 35V is 7800g. The flying with this engine is really good, I think that the speed of this models looks realistically. The next step will be cockpit and retractable tail wheel.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

Whew!!! That was a scary take off. Well done on picking up that left wing so quickly. That engine performed really nice. looked rock solid in flight.
What did you end up setting your C.o.G at? I have one of these aircraft with a Saito 325 fitted. It has 22 flights on it now and is a real pleasure to fly.

Nice flight and a great landing.
Good luck with the cockpit fitting.
Some pics of your tail wheel retract system would be nice to see when you get it done.
I went with this option on my one and it looks very clean in the air when a low pass is performed.
Trev.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

Thank you very much Kiwi. The take-off was very scary, but partly it was my mistake and partly it was caused by the cross wind.
The C.G. I set in 155mm from leading edge I think that manual says 168mm.
When I begin with the retract tail wheel I will add some pictures.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

I just received my LA-7. It's a beutiful ARF. The quality of the work and the paint are great. Even the hardware is adequate. With a great plane like this, however, I might upgrade some of it to be on the safe side. I'm really happy with the plane (and the price). Only the shipping from Troybuiltmodels was a bit of a disappointment at $143. Troybuiltmodels carries a DLE 35RA (rear exhaust). After studying the specs and dimensions, I believe that this might fit into the cowl (with the exception of the spark plug). I'll take my time in assembling because I want it to be perfect. No one could be disappointed with the plane. Art M

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

ORIGINAL: aminklein

I just received my LA-7.Β* It's a beutiful ARF.Β* The quality of the work and the paint are great.Β* Even the hardware is adequate.Β* With a great plane like this, however, I might upgrade some of it to be on the safe side.Β* I'm really happy with the plane (and the price).Β* Only the shipping from Troybuiltmodels was a bit of a disappointment at $143.Β* Troybuiltmodels carries a DLE 35RA (rear exhaust).Β* After studying the specs and dimensions, I believe that this might fit into the cowl (with the exception of the spark plug).Β* I'll take my time in assembling because I want it to be perfect.Β* No one could be disappointed with the plane.Β* Art M

Be sure to use incidence meters on the wing, horizontal stab and thrust lines. I am flying my third EsM LA7 (I do like them) but all of them come out of the jig with a tendency to climb.....putting about 1 degree of positive incidence on the horizontal stab ( while keeping the wing at zero) levels this one out nicely

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

I think, that you chose good engine. It is not so big but not so small. And I think, that the size will be OK for the cowl. I have DLE 32 with the rear walbro and rear exhaust, it could be engine for this La-7.
So, good luck with your process!

I looked for the new camouflage and I found one. It is called as KozhedubΒ΄s marking, but IΒ΄m not sure, because he had white rudder, but here is yellow, does anybody know if it is real camouflage?

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

Well, I've been working on LA-7 for about a week now, and I'm sorry to report that this is not an easy build. I've constantly had to improvise. The wing dowels were very difficult to install properly. I've had to reposition them, using a lot of epoxy. The horizontal stabilizer/elevator, after installing it exactly by the instructions, is still not perfectly horizontal. (about a quarter inch difference). Most frustrating, however, have been the wheel wells. Surprisingly they were the difficult thing to trim - not the canopy. They cracked very easily, and they did not fit the wheel wells very well. Trying to epoxy them into the wheel wells flush has been almost impossible. They have to be held flat, and then, even after the glue dries, they tend to pop out. I'll probably have to order another pair.

All in all, this ARF has been much more diffcult to build than I anticipated. A lot of the basic work, that could have been done easily in jigs by the manufacturer was left undone. There's a lot of improvising, cutting and fitting required. To make this plane look perfect, you really have to be a pretty good craftsman. I'll continue, but in the future I'd prefer a traditional ARF like Great Planes or Topflite. Art M

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

aminklein, Your plastic parts are easier to cut without cracking by holding them under warm tap water while cuttin. This also goes for the canopy. As far as the wing dowels I just measured and measured again before cutting. I am sure they will be ok though. You can't see them after the wing is on.For the stabs I just matched them up with the fuse. I am sure if the plane was not airworthly with with the stabs being off a little they would not sell it or show flying demos of it. I have one but haven't flown it as of yet but I am sure it will fly ok. I had trouble with my wheels also but just run the plastic wells under warm water before gluing them down and they will fit ok. Also cut them under warm water and landing gear strut covers that cover the wheel wells when retracted will haft to be shaped in a bow so they will seal the hole up. I did this by putting them in hot water and putting weight on the front and back while in the middle of the cover I had pencils taped together to from the bow. The bottom of the wing is not flat and the wheel wells are and if you don't do this they will stick up. Let them soak over nite to get the shape then I used a heat gun to dry them out then I put a coat of epoxy to keep the shape.Check the fit though and see if you are satified. If not reshape before you apply the epoxy.I assume you are going to use retracts. The mounting blocks that the gear covers will have to be trimmed also for a flush fit when the gear is retracted.Epoxy does not work to well against the fiberglass and plastic. I used thick C/A and lots of weight and blue tape to hold the parts down. I did the whole cockpit thing for this bird and if you do the same you will have to raise the servos up so the flight cables will clear. I attached my canopy with clear Silicone as if I needed to get back into the cockpit again I can just run a exacto blade under the edge of the canopy and it will come off easily.Make sure you sand the parts that you are gonna glue especially the plastic ones so they will stick good.Just get the shine off should be sufficient. Good luck with the rest of your build. Steve Mullis

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

Thanks for the above advise. I just discovered a pretty good solution for the wheel well problem. After I glued them into the wells, part of the edges, or lips of the wells, were sticking up above the surface of the wing by an eighth or a quarter of an inch. Apparently they pulled up from the surface because of their curve. I applied a heat gun carefully. The heat softened the plastic quickly. Then I held down the how plastic with a scrap of wood until it cooled. This pretty much flattened the edge of the wells against the wing surface. They don't look too bad now. Careful with too much heat, though.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

aminklein, Even though they call this plane a ARF it is a standoff scale and you just cannot slap them together and expect them to look good.I built mine over the winter last season 2011 2012 and just started the engine last week. I also was working on another project. Warbirds are a different breed altogether and I found that out when I started the build on the LA-7. I built warbirds before but that was before ARF's and in the early 70's and kit form. They are a challenge but rewarding when people check out your build and see it fly.I just took my time and with the help of this thread and other builders mine came out pretty good. I ,like I said haven't flown mine as of yet and we had a scale show last march and I won first place in our local clubs scale event show that I had in my opinion some great looking planes but the LA-7 was the only one there and I did some fine detailing on the plane.This was my first warbird in over 30 years and I never entered a scale event before. All together there was about 34 planes in the event and needless to say I came home with a smile on my face. So just take your time and enjoy the build and you will love this plane.
There are a few builders in this thread that have gone alot further in detail than I did on this plane. Changing the color scheme and stripping all the paint off and repainting the whole plane and I know there planes a very pristene in the way they look and fly. My hat is off to them and I hope to run in to them someday and get some more pointers and tips.I like the ESM planes. You get alot of detail on these birds that other companies don't provide in there ARF's.Also there prices are not bad at all. Keep up the good work on your plane and post some pictures so us scale buffs can drull over your new bird. Steve Mullis PS. Let us know if you have any good tips we can use in this build so in the future we might use them on other warbirds.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

ORIGINAL: Joespeeder

Hey Guys,

I painted the yellow band on the tail and the stars off the bottom using warbird colors RML blue. I like the miss matching of the blues on the bottom and once I get the German crosses on there it will look really good. I'm thinking I'll do the yellow wing tips on the bottom as shown on the paper model. When I look at the Luftwaffe Archives photo of this plane it looks like you can see a surface change on the bottom of the wing tips and it will help with visualizing what the LA-5 is doing in the air for me.

I'm thinking I'll get both flat and satin clear coats from Lowes to highlight the various paint areas. Russian paint will be flat, German paint will be satin or a mix of satin and flat, and the silver exhaust area will be left the ESM texture. I'll paint in the exhaust with an airbrush and then flat over the exhaust.

Here's the progress this far.

Joe

Hey Joe,

What's the staus on your LA-7 project? You haven't posted anything about it in some time.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

Hey Peter,

Yup, It's sitting in the basement right where I left off last spring. I was going great guns on it till I hit the retract thing. I got caught waiting for ESM retracts to get figured out. It looks like they are about to release Version 3 of those retracts. Then I got busy with flying and real life. I know there are other retracts but I just didn't have the time to spend on it as the season began.

Currently, I'm beginning a Minimoa 2 seater that will get done first and the LA-7 will be ready for next spring.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

Hey Joe,

Exactly what issues did you run into with the ESM retracts? I read through your build but I didn't see anything on those.
I picked up a NIB LA-7 for $300 this week and I was planning on picking up a set of Gen 2 ESM electric retracts from VQ Warbirds. If there are issues with them please tell.
BTW, sorry fo not being able to make it to your Warbird Funfly this year, but unfortunately, life got in the way and I have had no time for the hobby this summer. Things are squared away now and I'm hoping to get back to building some models including my ESM HurricaneI bought lastyear and the LA-7.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

Hey Peter,

No Troubles.... I didn't have any issues directly with ESM retracts. I had been reading and watching as they released various versions. Gen 1 took about 40 seconds to cycle, Gen 2 took a lot less time but then started to have reliability issues, Gen 2.5 installed little bumpers as a soft stop to avoid the reliability issues. Recently I've seen Gen 3 being talked about and suppliers are waiting for shipment. As normally happens with this kind of thing I read as I'm building and on the retracts I found myself waiting till I heard good reports. Along the same lines, if I have any issues with my XYZ ignition I'll order an Rcexle to replace it.

I really really want to use the ESM retracts as they are a simple drop in and just got caught waiting then the season began.

The warbird day was great.. I know you had real life crop up on you about then. There is always next year. It's an event you'd enjoy !!

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

There is an alternative to the ESM Gear but it is more expensive, or it can be. The reason I say it can be is that with the ESM gear Ihad two ground loops, and not that bad as the speed was way down. However Ifly off of a paved runway out here in the desert and on both occasions I bent one or two of the ESMgear legs. Replacements were about 45 a piece. Finally I said enough and bought a set from Giant Sierra. Ihad already converted the ESMto electric with LADO 666 actuators and installed them into the Sierra Gear, this was about a 30 minute job. They have been fantastic and after 50 plus flights and one good loop, a half loop and one really bad landing I have not seen and problems or damage. Plus the gear has less play and the plane tracks better. That is the good news. The bad is that the Seira's are about 330 or so, and if you want electric gear you are going to need LADOor Wingspan or down and locked conversions and that will be another 250 or so. Yup its an ouch.

If I were to summerize, the Sierra converted to electric would be a about 600 bucks, the net result of that would be a very strong and excellent set of gear and struts, my LADO's have been great and completely reliable (I have 3 sets). The ESMgear are a lot cheaper, my experience has been that they are not as strong as the Seirra gear, and the ESMgear has more play in the mechanisms. The plus side they are half the price.

My thinking, for what its worth, is that by the time you get this plane flying you have sunk a pretty sizable amount of cash into it, why risk it with cut price gear?

Lastly Iam not slamming ESMor touting that this is only way to go, ie not attempting to start a flame war or that one thing is better than another,with RCand with life alternatives are present.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

Great post and great info. I have a couple sets of lado's myself and love them. I have a 1st generation that I got from Doug which have served me well and a set from MagnumRC supplied by Chistopher.

If I could get a parts list of the struts and lado's needed so I could just order them as a bolt in I'd go that way and speed things along.

The Sieara's with Lado actuators is a very nice but pricy way to go.

Some things I am very good a spec'ing out and others not so much. The gear just hit me at the wrong time and I was ready to fly other stuff so the LA-5 got put to the side. Right now I'm really in scale glider mode and have two vintage gliders and a 86 inch L-4 to do as a tug. I will finish the LA-5 for next season. But it will be after the new year.

I'm out here lurking and really appreciate all your guys help. This spring I'll have a flurry of questions and post my progress.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

The Sierra/Lado setup is definitely not cheap; a little over my budget. I will probably will wait for the ESM Ver 3 retracts also.
I just ordered the same spinner from Gene Barton. He says it is 4.6" diameter and is a cutoff of the ME335 nose cone.
Like most in this thread, I will be ordering the cockpit from Tomas at VQ Warbirds.
I really would like to do a retracting tail wheel setup. I was planning on usingthe sameRobart retracting tailwheel setup I installed in my ESM Typhoon. However, I would like to see what others have installed.
I'm really excited to start this project; hopefully the model arrives at the end of the week. I plan on going electric with a HK Rotomax 50cc brushless, a 180amp ESC, and 12Slipos, all spinning a 3 blade prop.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

"I really would like to do a retracting tail wheel setup. I was planning on using the same Robart retracting tailwheel setup I installed in my ESM Typhoon. However, I would like to see what others have installed."

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

Hi guys.. I have a robart tail retract in my LA_7 IF Anyone is interested I can post some photos of the install. I made a few mods to
the system to make it move thru more range of travel. I have a video of it in operation on utube if you care to see it.
Just look up nzkiwibandit
It's great to see all the good ideas coming thru for this model. once it is flying you will be very satisfied.

RE: ESM LA-7 From VQ Warbirds

ORIGINAL: Kiwi Bandit

Hi guys.. I have a robart tail retract in my LA_7 IF Anyone is interested I can post some photos of the install. I made a few mods to
the system to make it move thru more range of travel. I have a video of it in operation on utube if you care to see it.
Just look up nzkiwibandit
It's great to see all the good ideas coming thru for this model. once it is flying you will be very satisfied.